Steelers safety Troy Polamalu had a disappointing 2012, suffering a calf injury in Week One, aggravating that injury when he tried to return in Week Four, and missing most of the season before finally returning in Week 13.
So when Polamalu looks ahead to the 2013 season, he says it doesn’t really matter that he feels fine now. He needs to get himself into condition to be good to go when the regular season starts.
“Standing right here, I feel good. But it’s really irrelevant how I feel now. What’s important is how I feel 16 games through the football season,” Polamalu told Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com.
Polamalu said he believes the kind of soft-tissue injury that he suffered last season is preventable, and he indicated late last season that he might need to take a different approach to practice to make sure his body is ready on Sundays in the fall. The Steelers need Polamalu, who has missed 22 games in the last four seasons, to be ready on Sundays in the fall, regardless of how he feels in the summer.